Upon surveying more than 25,000 students in adolescence, a British research group found that schools, to a certain extent, significantly impacts a young individual’s mental health.
The survey, as part of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, involved 85 schools and the examination of data gathered between 2016 and 2018 of children in their first or second year of secondary school.
The primary objective was to assess if school-level factors significantly impact a student’s mental health.
According to the study, school-level factors were implicated in a 2.4 percent rate of the variation in social-emotional-behavioral difficulties, as well as a 1.6 percent variation in depressive symptoms, and 1.4 percent variation in well-being.
The study also considered social and psychological factors such as urban location and deprivation, and its association with mental health among the young students.
From the study: “The findings, from data obtained in the My Resilience in Adolescence (MYRIAD) study, explore what supports young people’s mental health and evaluates the cost-effectiveness of a mindfulness training intervention delivered to an entire school.”
“This study uses the data from this mindfulness trial to explore school-level influences on the mental health of young people.”
Overall, the findings concluded that school-level factors only help to explain a small, but significant impact on the mental health of young students.
“This information might be used to identify schools that are in need of more resources to support mental health of young people,” researchers suggested.
